1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates in general to seats for automobiles, and more particularly to automotive rear seats of a type which is equipped with a retractable center armrest.
2. Description of the Prior Art
In order to clarify the task of the present invention, two prior art rear seats of the above-mentioned type will be described with reference to FIGS. 4, 5, 6 and 7 of the accompanying drawings.
A first example is shown in FIGS. 4 and 5.
As is seen from FIG. 4, the seat 10 comprises generally a seat cushion 12 and a seatback 14. The seatback 14 is formed at a laterally middle portion thereof with a rectangular opening 16 which is sized and constructed for neatly receiving an armrest 34. The seatback 14 is located immediately adjacent to a rear partition wall 18 of a motor vehicle with its back surface facing the wall 18.
Referring to FIG. 5, an armrest supporting bracket 30 which is U-shaped extends laterally in a lower portion of the opening 16. The armrest supporting bracket 30 has opposed bent ends secured to opposed side walls 32 of the opening 16. (The arrangement of the armrest supporting bracket 30 relative to the opening 16 will be well understood from FIG. 1).
The armrest 34 is rectangular parallelopiped in shape, which has a rear end portion pivotally held between and by the opposed bent ends of the armrest supporting bracket 30. Thus, the armrest 34 can pivot between a raised inoperative position wherein the armrest 34 fits in the rectangular opening 16, and a laid operative position wherein the armrest 34 is laid horizontally on the seat cushion as shown in FIG. 4.
Designated by numeral 36, is a covering plate of flexible plastic. As is seen from FIG. 4, the covering plate 36 has two access holes 38 and is sized so as to cover or close the opening 16. The covering plate 36 is secured to the back surfaces of the seatback 14 and the seat cushion 12, as is understood from FIG. 5.
Behind the covering plate 36, there is arranged a seatback supporting bracket 40 which has opposed bent ends and two bolt holes 42. The seatback supporting bracket 40 extends laterally across the covering plate 36 and is secured at the bent ends to the back surface of the seatback 14 in a manner to align the bolt holes 42 with the access holes 38.
As is seen from FIG. 4, the partition wall 18 has a large opening across which center and lower beams 18a and 18b extend laterally. The wall 18 has three upper catches 20 secured to a front upper portion thereof and two lower catches 22 secured to front lower corner portions thereof. The center beam 18a of the wall 18 has two bolt holes 24 at a middle portion thereof. Two nuts 26 are welded to the center beam 18a, which are aligned with the bolt holes 24 respectively.
Referring to FIG. 5, the seatback 14 is equipped with five hooks 28 at portions corresponding to the portions of the partition wall 18 where the catches 20 and 22 are located.
Upon assembly, the seatback 14 is supported by the partition wall 18 having the hooks 28 engaged with the catches 20 and 22.
For assuring the connection of the seatback 14 with the partition wall 18, two bolts 44 are further employed in the following manner.
From each access hole 38, a bolt 44 is inserted into the seatback supporting bolt hole 42 of the bracket 40 and the bolt hole 24 of the center beam 18a of the partition wall 18 and threadedly engaged with the corresponding nut 26. With this, the seatback 14 is fastened to the partition wall 18.
Two grommet nuts 46 are put into the access holes 38 to conceal the access holes 38.
Second example of the two prior art rear seats is shown in FIGS. 6 and 7.
Since the second example is similar in construction to the above-mentioned first example, the following description will be directed to only parts and constructions which are different from those of the first example.
As is seen from FIG. 7, the seatback supporting bracket 40 used in the second example has a stepped configuration, which is formed at a middle portion thereof with a raised part 40a and at both sides of the raised part 40a with depressed parts 40b. The depressed parts 40b have bolt holes which are mated with the bolt holes of the center beam 18a of the partition wall 18.
As is seen from FIG. 6, from each access hole 38, each bolt 44 is inserted into the mated bolt holes and threadedly engaged with the corresponding nut 26.
In this example, a flexible cloth sheet 48 is used for concealing the access holes 38.
The flexible cloth sheet 48 has a lower end secured to a base portion of the armrest 34 and an upper end equipped with a hook 52. The hook 52 is caught by a catch 50 which is secured to the covering plate 36. Thus, as is understood from FIG. 6, the two access holes 38 of the covering plate 36 are concealed by the cloth sheet 48.
However, due to their inherent constructions, the rear seats 10 of the above-mentioned first and second examples have the following drawbacks.
That is, in each example, using the grommet nuts 46 or the flexible cloth sheet 48 for concealing the access holes 38 causes an increase in production costs of the rear seat 10 because of an increase in parts required and also because it is difficult or troublesome to work with the grommet nuts 46 or the flexible cloth sheet 48 in order to fix them in the proper position. Furthermore, since the grommet nuts 46 or the flexible cloth sheet 48 is not aesthetically matched with the covering plate 36, the external appearance of the rear seat 10 is lowered considerably.